SNP ‘soft-touch’ justice under the spotlight yet again after paedophile, 26, posed as a teenage boy to blackmail and rape girl, 13, while being monitored by a specialist unit
- Joshua Pemberton, 26, raped a teenage girl, 13, at a hotel in January last year
A sex offender pretended to be a teenage boy to blackmail and rape a 13-year-old girl while he was being monitored by a specialist unit.
Joshua Pemberton, 26, struck in January 2022, having earlier served time in jail for sexual offences.
He had initially contacted the victim on social media while claiming to be 14.
Pemberton went on to rape the child at a hotel in Livingston, West Lothian, after threatening to expose intimate photos of the teenager that he had pestered her for.
Three other young girls were victims of the predator – two he had underage sex with and another he hounded for pictures.
Joshua Pemberton, 26, is back behind bars after he pleaded guilty to a total of 17 charges at the High Court in Glasgow (pictured)
A judge heard Pemberton was being monitored by the Highland and Islands sex offender policing unit in his home town of Inverness.
He had been classed as a ‘high risk’ when he was freed from prison in 2020. Pemberton received jail terms in 2018 and 2019 for offences against five youngsters.
He is now back behind bars after he pleaded guilty to a total of 17 charges at the High Court in Glasgow. Prosecutor Chris Jones said: ‘He used a false picture to misrepresent his appearance to her.’
READ MORE: Scottish man, 22, smirks outside court as he has conviction for raping a 13-year-old girl quashed – after dodging jail twice because of lenient SNP laws
They messaged on Snapchat and Pemberton went on to ‘repeatedly ask’ for nude pictures. The girl ‘eventually relented’.
Pemberton later suggested meeting in Livingston where Mr Jones said: ‘She realised he had been using a fake picture and that he was older.’
Pemberton warned her if she did not go to a hotel for sex he would send intimate photos of her ‘to people she knew’.
He raped the crying girl in the hotel room.
The court heard Pemberton also had sex with two girls aged 14 and 15 after he ‘deceived them into thinking he was younger than he was’.
A fourth girl – aged 13 – was preyed upon for pictures.
Pemberton’s lawyer Shahid Latif said: ‘He apologises for the hurt that he has caused.’
Lady Stacey remanded him in custody and deferred sentencing until next month.
Scottish Tory deputy justice spokesman Sharon Dowey said: ‘It is disgraceful this offender was able to carry out more brutal crimes.’
A police spokesman said: ‘We can never eliminate risk entirely, but sexual re-offending rates of registered sex offenders remain very low.’
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